Happy Birthday Christian!!

Our little man is 1 today! What a wonderful year it's been with him. Although we now have to share our wedding anniversary with him (we've been married 10 years today!!) we are happy to do it. As a joint anniversary/birthday trip, we decided to go to Michigan's Adventure - an amusement park 3 hours west of here in Muskegon, Michigan. It's got a water park and a traditional amusement park portion. So we decided to spend one day in each and spend the night in a hotel in between. I really thought my kids would spend most of their time in the water park and was super excited to see their reaction. However, the weather didn't fully cooperate and it wasn't terribly hot that day. Only high 70s/low 80s and when they were soaking wet and the wind hit them, they got really cold. Then the kiss of death for the outing was the wave pool. Benjamin had loved the lazy river and was totally gung ho about the idea of a wave pool...until the first wave hit him and he went down and cut up his knee on the bottom of the pool. Happy feelings gone. His confidence was shattered and he never recovered.



He tried to be a good sport and go on a few little water slides with me, but he never wanted to play in the water or try any larger slides and after an hour of "let's go now," we aquiesced. So we ended up spending the rest of the day on the rides, which luckily went way better. They were both little dare devils and had so much fun on rides I never would have thought they'd go on. Bella loved the roller coaster so much she asked to go on it again and again. Benjamin loved the Falling Star Ride which I know better as the Magic Carpet. He just kept running around and getting in line again and again until he told me his stomach felt squeezy. They loved the go carts too. Such serious, intense faces! But he did manage to smile once he got the hang of it!





We had a great time and because we ended up doing everything in one day, we saved ourselves the cost of the second days' tickets and went to a children's museum in Grand Rapids the next day instead. That was a lot of fun too. Some really fun tables and even a free live dance performance from an international dance school in the area happened to be going on while we were there. The kids sat in the front row riveted as they watched the Indian and Middle Eastern dances.








We also went down to the river in town. Benjamin wanted to go down to the water's edge, but Bella had other ideas. Soon everyone decided that Bella's idea was a good one.




How every successful trip ends:


Although Benjamin never admits to sleeping in the car. He slept like that for an hour and when he awoke, I asked, "Did you sleep well?" "I wasn't sleeping. I just had my eyes closed to trick you." He says this every time. It's hilarious. Just resting my eyes, boss. That's all. :)

Today on Christian's actual birthday we went to church. I dressed Christian in the same outfit Benjamin wore on his 1st birthday. So cute!! Can you tell who's who?



Afterwards the kids and I made blueberry banana muffins and gave Christian one with a #1 candle on it as we sang to him. The moment we started singing he bounced in his seat and started clapping his hands. Kelly helped him blow out his candle and then Christian devoured every bit of his muffin.


The kids wanted to play play-doh afterwards so we tried again to see if Christian could play without eating it. The verdict? No.


But he also just enjoyed playing with the plastic pieces and being one of the big kids. So there's progress.

He was very happy the entire time until he got it in his head that he wanted to climb onto the table. He has started to be a real stubborn little kid! When he wants something that he shouldn't have and you keep him from it or take it away, he will throw a fit! He will try again and again and again to accomplish his desire and will scream and throw himself around to make his point. I think he's learned with two older siblings he has to be forceful to get his way. He's also sooo active lately! He can't stand to be strapped in or sitting still. He's got to be on the go! He especially loves to climb. He's still not walking independently (so surprised, I thought for sure he would by now!) but he LOVES to climb. Anything he can find, he'll climb into or on top of. You have to really watch out. Especially because he also knows how to push the stool over to what he wants and then climb onto it. He also knows how to open cupboard doors and lift the toilet cover. So many times I've heard splash, splash and know exactly what's going on! This kid's going to be trouble!




He topped off his birthday by screaming himself to sleep for over 2 hours. I thought we were over that!! Maybe he just wasn't ready for the day to be over.

We love you Christian. You have a delightful sense of humor, a friendly, happy disposition, a love of music, a constant desire to be on the go, a vibrant curiosity about everything around you, and terrific appetite! We hope you have a wonderful next year.